Why is Gmail Clipping my Emails?

⏱ 10 minute read

Long form content’s higher search engine results page ranking gives it a superpower not shared by shorter content. That’s because recipients typically don’t consider long form a marketing overture. It’s usually informational and educational, telling a story rather than selling something. So why is there so much angst around the potential danger of long form emails? Because you just might get punished for them!

But Why and How?!?

Imagine that you’ve spent hours crafting the perfect email only to see that your ESP has clipped it. The CTA is gone, the footer’s deleted. That feeling of helpless dread (and seething frustration!) starts to creep in. Not only has your email been cut off at the knees, but now your customers are likely annoyed. So, what happened?

Chances are your email was too big. Long form written content can range anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000 words. This length is better suited for a website or downloadable paper rather than stuffed in an email. As a result, many service providers such as Gmail are clipping emails that have a message size larger than 102 KB. But it’s not just the text that’s to blame: this size limit includes the HTML and CSS as well. 

What it Looks Like

When an email exceeds the 102 KB limit, Gmail hides the full content behind a “[Message clipped] View Entire Message” link. This is a setting that can’t be turned off and is a definite pain point for customers. Users need to click on the link to view it in full. Alternatively, they can hit the “Print” icon at the top of the Gmail message to view the entire email. Either way, it’s an extra step that could well be avoided with some smart design and strategy.

Here’s an example of a clipped email viewed on a desktop or laptop:

Image source: Why Gmail Clips Your Emails and How to Avoid It

Mobile Viewing of Clipped Emails

Sure, a clipped message on your desktop or laptop can be super-annoying, but what about mobile with its small portrait-oriented screen? If an email gets clipped, it might not look the same as it would on a bigger monitor. That’s particularly concerning, as 61.9% of emails are read and 40% of online transactions are completed on mobile. What’s more, nearly half of mobile users will switch to your competitor after a bad experience with your mobile site. Yikes!

Check out these examples of clipped emails on different mobile phone platforms:

Image source: How to Avoid Gmail Clipping your Emails

Note how it goes a little longer on the iPhone than Android when it comes to displaying the clipped message. The company provides a blog teaser and then a large CTA to view the rest of it on their website. However, they still let advertising rule a large part of the real estate. Any other important information is then clipped on the Android, and is suddenly clipped mid-paragraph when displayed on the iPhone. Also, the unsubscribe and copyright information is left off — read on to discover the impact of such omissions.

What’s the Cost of a Clipped Email?

Good question. If you start to experience Gmail clipping your emails, you may also experience these pricey consequences:

• Loss of click-throughs. Your potential customers and subscribers may consider “View Entire Message” either an obstacle or a waste of time (or both). If that’s the case, chances are they will delete your email without even downloading the complete message. There’s also the risk of users not seeing the link, as it’s often in very small font at the bottom. This defeats the purpose of even showing the link in the first place. 
• Lack of optimized metrics. When Gmail clips your message, it also cuts the code that tracks whether an email has been opened or not. So, if you want to keep your metrics in sync with your click-rate reports, ensure emails are under 102 KB.
• Loss of vital footer info. A clipped message doesn’t just mean the value of your message is gone. It can also cut off legally-required information such as unsubscribe instructions or a copyright label that resides in the footer.
• Increased spam reports. Additionally, if the unsubscribe link is gone, users may report your message as spam. This can put you at risk to be dinged by Gmail if your campaign exceeds a 0.2% spam rate. A potential increase in spam reports can drastically affect your sender reputation. Not exactly the marketing metric you want to excel at.
• Presentation problems. You’ve been working on your email for hours or even days, when you count all the workflow and approval processes that go along with it. Then — after all that sweat and tears — the display is all wonky on the recipient’s device. That’s pretty frustrating and particularly sensitive on mobile, where space is at a premium.
• Loss of interactivity. Sadly, only text and graphics get displayed with emails that exceed 102 KB. That means the (potentially) good stuff gets sacrificed, such as dynamic AMP interactivity: accordions, carousels, buttons, and checkboxes. Ultimately, you have to ask yourself which is more important: a bunch of copy blocks or some fun, interactive elements? As a potential recipient of email campaigns, you know what looks good and what’s likely to get trashed.

It’s Not All Bad

Despite all the doom and gloom, there are some exceptions where it’s OK to send a long form email. For example, sometimes retailers simply want to send a summary of purchases rather than trying to sell you something. Here’s a message from a grocery chain that itemizes an order, including images, price information, quantities and so on:

Yes, it may be slightly annoying to have to click through to see the entire order. But, most of the time people won’t even bother. It’s mostly useful as a reference point for item reminders or to clear up a discrepancy in an order.

If your message is still too long, get creative and entice users to click through to see the entire message. This company added a bit of intrigue and a time-sensitive ‘push’ for readers to see the email to the end: 

Image source: Gmail Clips Email. How to Prevent it?

Blinking animations — as irritating as they can often be — sometimes actually work in certain situations. Although an animated email will likely catch someone’s eye, the key is to not make it too busy. This email makes good use of animation, making it clear where a user should click via a large CTA. And, everyone likes to solve a good mystery.

So, How Do I Relay Important Info Without the Risk of Getting Clipped? 

Don’t fret! There are clever ways to get around Gmail clipping your emails so you can still present value to your customer. Here are some top fixes:

Keep the content concise. Adults typically pay attention to one task for only about eight seconds, so ensure your long form emails are highly scannable. This means using bullet points, subheads, lists, short paragraphs — and plenty of white space. Keep language simple, conversational, and easy to read (no need to break out the thesaurus).

How about some good news? Images and attachments do not add to the calculated size, so use interactive elements to engage in a concise way. Let’s look at the following example from Colgate: 

Image source: Prevent Gmail From Clipping Your Email 

Super-scannable, this email uses graphics and white space in a balanced approach so it’s easy on the eyes. Text is minimal and simple, highlighting the important parts of the message. They’ve added a video and a well-positioned CTA, as well as prominent (but not too large) social icons. Nicely done!

Provide more info through links rather than copy. Save the in-depth information and case studies for your website. Engage email recipients with content teasers and bullet points. Break the message up into CTAs and links to direct potential customers and existing subscribers to detailed content. In general this is a solid approach for customer engagement.

Look at what car rental company Hertz did to make a promotional email campaign stand out:

Image source: Prevent Gmail From Clipping Your Email

Snappy photos and scannable text makes this example a winner. They’ve included all of the important information without losing the customer’s interest with huge blocks of text and hidden CTAs. The company also doesn’t overload you with too many buttons and flashy elements that just distract instead of adding value. Hertz even added a Trouble Viewing? link at the top in case it looks wonky on an outdated device.

Avoid directly copying and pasting content. When copying content from sources like websites or other applications, you might inadvertently be copying extra (invisible) formatting as well. This extra code can inflate the size of an otherwise ‘short’ message. Worse, it can cause rendering or presentation errors in your email campaign. To avoid this common pitfall, and the risk of Gmail clipping your emails, copy and paste from plain text. The same goes for browser extensions such as Grammarly, which can add unwanted code into your email. If spell-check is a must, disable the extension while working on your campaign and use a built-in spell checker instead.

Resist over-formatting. Over-formatting is, simply put, overrated. Do away with multiple font styles, excessive formatting of those font styles and too many colors. All of these contribute to the KB total of your HTML code. Instead, zero in on scannability, readability and engagement. This means short sentences, bullets, subheads and one or two interactive elements to engage the reader without overwhelming. Plus, it will emphasize your CTAs, which is what you want your target recipient to focus on. Plainly said: less is more. Microsoft got the memo on that:

Image source: Prevent Gmail From Clipping Your Email

An easy-reading, two-toned design gives center stage to the most important part of the email: the video. There’s no mixing of fancy fonts or busy templating. The message is clear and it’s obvious what the user needs to do if they’re interested. 

Use a template for your newsletter. Take advantage of an intuitive email builder such as Dyspatch that makes it easy to set up your campaign with drag-and-drop content. This is a great solution for email marketers who regularly send emails containing the same size of content each time. Another major benefit of using a pre-built template is that it offers a solid foundation that you’ve already tested. Having a templated campaign works especially well with product roundup newsletters, where the focus is more on images and carousels.

Test, test… and test again. Testing email content is vital. It helps you evaluate responses, verify timing, experiment with subject lines, and view content on different devices. Shockingly, despite the obvious benefit of seeing a live preview before sending emails, half of marketers never test their emails! Viewing your emails in real time on different devices (mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop) is a huge time saver. An email creation platform — like Dyspatch — that supports instant testing will keep content looking great for all recipients. 

Pro tip: Ensure you don’t have the same subject line for more than one campaign. Otherwise, Gmail will group them together as the same email and clip it because the thread is too large. This can also happen with test emails, so change the subject line with each test. For example: July 4 Sale 1, July 4 Sale 2, etc. You can also delete previous test emails to make extra-sure Gmail doesn’t pick it up as one email.

Keep the Customer in Mind 

It may be a no-brainer that short rather than long form emails are the best way to deliver a message. But it all depends on how you tackle it. If it’s short but messy, it’ll be more distracting than dynamic. If it’s longer but scannable, it’s likely to be more easily absorbed. 

Just remember to keep your email campaigns concise, engaging, pleasing to the eye, and actionable. This is in the form of to-the-point copy, one or two visuals, some AMP elements and a balance of color and white space. Sounds easy, right? It can be if you invest up-front so you have a template to work from that’s tried, tested, and true. You’ll save yourself time in the long run, you’ll convert more users and your customers will remain loyal. Now that’s something that shouldn’t be dismissed — or clipped.